Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across major platforms

An haunting metaphysical terror film from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an timeless force when outsiders become puppets in a dark game. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of living through and age-old darkness that will redefine horror this spooky time. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and emotionally thick film follows five unknowns who wake up ensnared in a cut-off cabin under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a central character controlled by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be hooked by a visual ride that merges bone-deep fear with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the presences no longer come from a different plane, but rather from their core. This depicts the grimmest facet of these individuals. The result is a harrowing inner struggle where the intensity becomes a brutal confrontation between good and evil.


In a barren forest, five youths find themselves marooned under the ominous sway and inhabitation of a obscure spirit. As the victims becomes unresisting to evade her will, exiled and preyed upon by powers inconceivable, they are cornered to endure their darkest emotions while the hours coldly winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and links shatter, requiring each person to reconsider their self and the philosophy of conscious will itself. The stakes magnify with every passing moment, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes mystical fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover basic terror, an entity beyond time, manifesting in our fears, and challenging a will that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences worldwide can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has collected over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Tune in for this visceral journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these terrifying truths about mankind.


For featurettes, director cuts, and updates directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: 2025 domestic schedule blends legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, together with returning-series thunder

Ranging from survival horror grounded in legendary theology to brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most textured paired with strategic year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios lay down anchors with familiar IP, simultaneously digital services saturate the fall with unboxed visions and scriptural shivers. At the same time, indie storytellers is drafting behind the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 chiller year to come: follow-ups, original films, and also A packed Calendar geared toward frights

Dek: The new horror year clusters at the outset with a January crush, following that spreads through summer corridors, and running into the December corridor, fusing brand equity, novel approaches, and smart counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that position genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the predictable tool in studio slates, a space that can surge when it connects and still buffer the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that cost-conscious chillers can command audience talk, the following year carried the beat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and prestige plays signaled there is appetite for different modes, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that perform internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that shows rare alignment across players, with planned clusters, a harmony of brand names and untested plays, and a tightened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now performs as a fill-in ace on the schedule. The genre can launch on most weekends, create a clean hook for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with viewers that come out on Thursday previews and return through the next pass if the entry lands. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup signals conviction in that model. The year rolls out with a heavy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn push that stretches into the fright window and afterwards. The gridline also illustrates the tightening integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is brand curation across shared universes and storied titles. Studio teams are not just mounting another installment. They are aiming to frame threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title design that conveys a re-angled tone or a casting choice that bridges a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are embracing hands-on technique, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy gives the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and surprise, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two headline pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a fan-service aware bent without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by franchise iconography, early character teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount navigate here theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that becomes a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that threads longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered execution can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror shot that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is selling as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that expands both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, horror hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival grabs, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight this content slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind these films indicate a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget Young & Cursed rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which are ideal for booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that refracts terror through a minor’s shifting subjective view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family entangled with ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.